The Inaugural Yaris Club Sport Challenge

Better Believe It: An Unlikely Toyota Indulges Its Racing Cravings

The IntroductionThe Toyota 7. The Celica GTO. The Toyota-Eagle MKIII GTP. The Corolla WRC. The GT-One. The Supra GT500. Over the past five decades, those were but a few of the race-prepped production machines representing the Big T in motorsport around the globe. The mission was always simple: Go big or go home. When the dust (and dirt) settled, some campaigns finished better than others.

As of this writing, there's a vacant space where Toyota's sports/sporty car would sit, and the company's overall racing spirit has dimmed. So we were certainly intrigued when we were invited to get behind the wheel of its newest race car at a real track. This wasn't some glorified a ride-along. Even more intriguing was the car, a highly unlikely candidate stripped down and fitted with the requisite racing car parts.How unlikely? If you guessed the Yaris, you get a gold star. We're about to embark on the "Yaris Club Sport Challenge," contested in both the real and virtual worlds, thanks to the still-fresh release of the latest version Gran Turismo 5 for the Sony PlayStation3. This could get interesting.

The Arrival - Day 1My media colleagues and I assemble at Toyota's sizable campus south of L.A. in Torrance, California, before heading north to our destination: Willows Spring Raceway in Rosamond, California, a one-way trip of 100 miles according Google's computer-generated route. To help get us in the proper state of mind, we were offered three- and five-door Yaris hatchbacks to drive on the ride up, given printed directions, and sent on our way.Based on my manual five-door's 36-highway mpg rating, 100 miles would hypothetically burn slightly less than 3 gallons of gasoline. But this is Los Angeles. For the next two and a half hours, I would be stuck on some of Southern California's most congested tarmac with thousands of other beleaguered motorists. The locals call it Monday.

The tortoise-like freeway speeds left plenty of time to get reacquainted with the Yaris' interior. It's still difficult to get accustomed to the car's centrally located instrumentation and the expansive empty, gray dashboard in plain forward view. The five-door liftback's design and compact dimensions guarantee excellent all-around visibility; the at-times-uncomfortable driver seat positioned me high enough above the beltline to feel like I was piloting a Sienna minivan. Countless foot pedal depressions and gear changes later, I finally arrived in Rosamond.

The ChallengeThe inaugural Yaris Club Sport Challenge has two parts. The first involves driving a race-prepped Yaris around the Streets of Willow going clockwise, using a truncated layout in which the famous bowl and high-speed blowpass were removed from the equation. The second portion asks us to get behind the steering wheel again, but this time we'd be locked into some virtual PS3 action. In the interest of fairness, the unique GT5 course would be created the same day as the actual competition. The computer-generated Yaris, branded as a Vitz (its Japanese market name), would be modified to a predetermined performance level supposedly representative of reality.

It was going to be entertaining to see how the event would unfurl. And speaking of NASCAR, pro racer Joey Logano was in attendance, along with pro motocross riders Justin Brayton and Davi Millsaps, all recording times of their own. If we weren't star-struck enough, Washington Redskins coaching legend/racing entrepreneur Joe Gibbs was also present with sons J.D. and Coy. Plus, a small platoon of photographers and video production people kept pointing their electronics at us. No pressure...The (Real) CarsA quick glance at the Yaris Club Sport Challenge racer's spec sheet reveals modifications that look innocent enough.Alterations to the 1.5-liter inline-four are limited to a K&N air filter and a Toyota Racing Development sport exhaust muffler. The build team estimates the mods are good for an extra 10 horsepower at the flywheel, bumping the output to 116 horsepower. Not earth-shattering by any means, but more than adequate for the task at hand.TRD was tapped again for the suspension, and it delivered a complete kit with sport shocks/struts, springs, and a new rear anti-roll bar. High-friction Carbotech XP8 brake pads were fitted to the calipers, and near-slick Goodyear Eagle RS DOT tires enveloped the 15-inch Kosei K1 TS wheels.

While the tires undoubtedly played a significant role in how the Yaris responded on the track, the weight savings had a say, too. Gutting the interior contributed a near-200-pound reduction, dropping the car's weight to approximately 2100 pounds. The cabin had no sound deadening, no extra seats, and was devoid of consumer frivolities. Interior mods included a single Sparco seat facing a quick-release NRG Innovations steering wheel, an eight-point rollcage, full Simpson harness, and Autopower Industries window net. In case any driver should encounter open flames, an Emergency Suppression Systems fire system could be called into action.

Outside, the red, orange, and yellow livery on white and black paid tribute to the dearly departed automotive graphics designer Rollin "Molly" Sanders, who was responsible for the original schemes on Toyota's IMSA racecars from the 1980s and 1990s, including the Toyota-Eagle MKIII Grand Touring Prototypes.
The vehicle numbers - 20 and 98 - also have significance. The No. 98 was inspired by the late-1980s Celica run by All American Racers for the IMSA GTO class. The No. 20 is Logano's number of choice when he's doing battle in NASCAR's Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.

The BuildupA critical difference between the amateur and professional race car driver is an intense amount of practice, practice, and more practice. In an effort to prepare us for the task ahead, we were implored to repeatedly lap the Streets of Willow. Good idea, because it was the first time I'd ever been there. We'd each get to build familiarity in a lightly modified Toyota Celica GT-S, last available in 2005 and equipped with the six-speed manual transmission. As part of the Willow Springs racing school fleet, these Celicas have endured countless miles and drivers. Although my Celica's odometer read just short of 9000 miles, these cars haven't led easy lives.

In addition to lapping the track, we were to get seat time in the GT5 sleds, which consisted of PS3s rigged with high-definition and 3D-capable screens, seats, and full-on wheel and pedal controller setups. The last Gran Turismo game I had experience with was GT3, almost 10 years ago. Now that I think about it, I probably should have spent more time in the sled.

Somewhere between shuffling between the Celicas on the track and observing GT5 practice sessions, we experienced what it was like to rotate a car a complete 180 degrees (apparently very easy work for Hollywood stunt drivers). I lost count of how many laps I did on Streets. The mental fatigue meant I was now driving around the track on autopilot, and likely was not doing an exceptionally good job. But by the end of the day, I thought I had a pretty good handle on where the apexes were.The Shootout - Day 2Day two was showtime. It was the first time any of the media drivers would climb into one of the race-prepped Yaris machines, and yours truly was called to be one of the first to help rubber in the track. As I strapped myself into the No. 20 car, my initial grogginess was immediately replaced by uncertainty. That and weather-related chilliness.

Back when I was just driving to Rosamond in the street-legal Yaris, I had noted the stock seating position felt a bit high. Now the racing Yaris' Sparco seat had me lower to the floor, which presented a new issue. I could barely see over the hood. Plus, there was limited visibility out of the driver side window due to the window net. On my first recon lap, I fiddled with the seat's sliding rails, and attempted to get used to the car's powerband and handling. Because of the modifications and short wheelbase (96.9 inches versus the Celica's 102.4 inches), this Yaris' lower polar moment of inertia had the back end much more willing to wrap around on demand. It was a lot more agile, and lively, than the Celica.

Thankfully, this was just a practice session, with each media participant getting exactly 10 minutes to get a feel for the equipment. On my second lap out, I spun exiting the skidpad that leads onto the main straightaway, and all it took was a momentary lift of the throttle for the warming, slick-like tires to snap back at me. I noticed that if I jammed on the ABS-less brakes with the steering wheel even slightly turned, I'd get the sudden sensation that I was about to go sideways. I was having difficulty getting rev-matches done quickly. I was apexing too early too often, with the Yaris wanting to cut more sharply into the corners with more entry speed because, well, it could. I wasn't staying on what power was available long enough, and at the end of the practice session I was angrily doubting my ability to turn the wheel .

After my 10 minutes were up, I sampled the new GT5 track that was going to be used in the virtual competition, but was already more than preoccupied with how the No. 20 Yaris drove. Knowing I'd be the first to set a lap time that day, I had no benchmark, nor did I want one.Soon, I was called out to the tarmac again. I was given instructions to take a warm-up lap, two flying laps, and a cool-down lap, with the lowest time entered as my personal best. I would follow the identical routine in GT5. No one would learn their cumulative time until the very end.The Finishing OrderWhen the checkered flag falls, the final order is all that matters.Order - Name - GT5 Time - Track Time - Composite Time1. Joey Logano - 1.35:395 - 1.17:00 - 2.52:395
2. Sean Klingelhoefer - 1.34:114 - 1.18:57 - 2.52:684
3. Peter Tarach - 1.36:938 - 1.17:54 - 2.54:478
4. Justin Brayton - 1.38:634 - 1.18:16 - 2.56:794
5. Davi Millsaps - 1.38:550 - 1.18:80 - 2.57:350
6. Benson Kong - 1.37:814 - 1.21:05 - 2.58:864
7. Anthony Huang - 1.38:470 - 1.20:40 - 2.58:870
8. John Bradley - 1.39:005 - 1.23:27 - 3.02:275
9. Jason Weigandt - 1.41:531 - 1.20:90 - 3.02:431
10. Lang Whitaker - 1.40:371 - 1.23:80 - 3.06:171
11. Bernard Antolin - 1.45:992 - 1.29:16 - 3.15:152

Upon closer analysis, it was my GT5 time that managed to keep me squarely in the middle of the rankings. After having a laugh with Anthony Huang over the 0.006-second gap between our composite times, we took our hats off to Sean Klingelhoefer for landing on top of the media pile. Showing his driving prowess, Peter Tarach's fastest lap was immensely impressive, just a half second off of Logano's time. All-in-all, I felt satisfied with my times, in both the virtual and real worlds.The WrapupSo what did I learn? The Yaris has taken a lot of flack over the years for not being a terribly exciting car, and rightly so. But the Club Sport Challenge version was something else. It was fun, demonstrative, and above all, challenging. I'm not saying that all those reading should go out and immediately acquire their own Yaris racecar; there are a multitude of other options out there. But without a doubt this was one drive I'll definitely remember.